tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59250722571426226692018-03-09T08:37:31.903-08:00Vitus CommentaryOccasional commentary on the investment scene by Vitus Capital.Bill Northlichnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1751125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-8821297281006153342018-03-09T08:37:00.001-08:002018-03-09T08:37:32.182-08:00 Noah Smith scifi books<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">Noah Smith scifi books</div></blockquote><br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">A Deepness in the Sky<br />the Vorkosigan series<br />Permutation City<br />Cryptonomicon<br />Oryx &amp; Crake<br />Hyperion + The Fall of Hyperion<br />Battle Royale<br />All the Birds in the Sky<br />Down &amp; Out in the Magic Kingdom<br />Neuromancer<br />Lucifer's Hammer<br />The Uplift War<br />Kindred<br />Schismatrix<br />Metaplanetary</div>— Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/971990904646000642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-4427697635288661592018-01-26T07:21:00.004-08:002018-01-26T07:22:39.396-08:00Jeff Saut Call of the Week<span style="background-color: white; color: #5b5e5a; font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/DoubleLine%20Capital%E2%80%99s%20Jeffrey%20Gundlach%20is%20recommending%20for%202018,%20namely%20emerging%20markets%20and%20commodities,%20themes%20we%20have%20been%20featuring%20for%20quite%20some%20time.%20Manifestly,%20commodities%20relative%20to%20stock%20are%20as%20cheap%20as%20they%20have%20been%20in%20a%20long%20time%20(see%20chart%201%20below).%20%20The%20call%20for%20this%20week:%20Friday%E2%80%99s%20option%20expiration%20usually%20leads%20to%20a%20lower%20Monday%20open%20for%20stocks%20on%20position%20squaring.%20That%20is%20what%20is%20happening%20this%20morning%20with%20the%20preopening%20futures%20down%20marginally.%20Our%20conversations%20with%20international%20accounts%20suggest%20they%20are%20more%20worried%20about%20the%20government%20shutdown%20than%20our%20domestic%20institutional%20accounts.%20Ergo,%20if%20stocks%20decline%20during%20the%20morning,%20look%20for%20a%20rally%20after%20the%20European%20close.%20The%20real%20question%20is,%20%E2%80%9CWill%20U.S.%20investors%20continue%20to%20ignore%20the%20shutdown%20like%20they%20did%20in%202013?%E2%80%9D%202800,%202767%20(gap),%202750%20(gap),%202736,%202723%20(gap),%202714%20(gap)%20on%20the%20S&amp;P%20500%20Index%20are%20support%20levels.">Jeff Saut...</a>&nbsp; DoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach is recommending for 2018, namely emerging markets and commodities, themes we have been featuring for quite some time. Manifestly, commodities relative to stock are as cheap as they have been in a long time (see chart 1 below).</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #5b5e5a; font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem;"><br /></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5b5e5a; font-family: &quot;Source Sans Pro&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; line-height: 2.4rem; margin-bottom: 15px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">The call for this week</strong>: Friday’s option expiration usually leads to a lower Monday open for stocks on position squaring. That is what is happening this morning with the preopening futures down marginally. Our conversations with international accounts suggest they are more worried about the government shutdown than our domestic institutional accounts. Ergo, if stocks decline during the morning, look for a rally after the European close. The real question is, “Will U.S. investors continue to ignore the shutdown like they did in 2013?” 2800, 2767 (gap), 2750 (gap), 2736, 2723 (gap), 2714 (gap) on the S&amp;P 500 Index are support levels.</div><div class="POVcommImg" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #002949; font-family: &quot;Source Sans Pro&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #5b5e5a; font-size: 1.5rem; line-height: 2.4rem; margin-bottom: 15px;"><a href="https://www.raymondjames.com/-/media/rj/dotcom/images/wealth-management/market-commentary-and-insights/investment-strategy/180123/180123-1.png" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5489b6; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-offset: -2px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt=" " src="https://www.raymondjames.com/-/media/rj/dotcom/images/wealth-management/market-commentary-and-insights/investment-strategy/180123/180123-1.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle; width: 400px;" /></a></div></div>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-52593065742295271662018-01-23T11:05:00.000-08:002018-01-23T11:05:32.651-08:00Immigration - Noah Smith<h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-family: sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px;">A thread by&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status//955634501215862785" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">Noah Smith</a></h2><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Immigration is the big issue in 2018. I've been writing about it for a while.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So here's a thread of articles, facts, and graphs that you can use in the immigration debate. First: Why immigration at all? Why do we need to bring newcomers into our country?<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Economic reasons:<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />1. They pay for the retirements of the native-born.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />2. They are highly entrepreneurial.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />3. They help keep America the center of the world economy.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-08-18/america-is-destined-for-decline-without-more-immigrants" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(bloomberg.com/view/articles/…)</a>&nbsp;Immigrants also help save declining towns, counties, and states. Immigration is the best hope for the Midwest and Northeast.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-12-26/a-road-map-for-reviving-the-midwest" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(bloomberg.com/view/articles/…)</a>&nbsp;Finally, Americans just LIKE immigrants.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The "nation of immigrants" thing isn't just elite propaganda. It's reflected in all the polls.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-12-18/anti-immigration-fervor-is-different-this-time" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(bloomberg.com/view/articles/…)</a></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUMS3AVVMAAxRPA.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 80%;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Now, let's address the arguments AGAINST immigration. The first argument against immigration is economic.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />"Immigrants take jobs away from the native-born!"<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />"Immigrants lower native-born wages!"<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Are these true?<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Probably not.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-25/immigration-isn-t-that-bad-for-native-workers" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(bloomberg.com/view/articles/…)</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-12-18/an-immigrant-isn-t-going-to-steal-your-pay-raise" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(bloomberg.com/view/articles/…)</a>You may have heard that George Borjas of Harvard says immigration hurts native workers.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />He does. But he's in the distinct minority. And the research methods he uses are often suspect.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The vast weight of evidence is against Borjas.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-16/immigrants-don-t-steal-from-americans-paychecks" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(bloomberg.com/view/articles/…)</a>The second argument against immigration is legal.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />"We just want to enforce the law! We like LEGAL immigration, just not ILLEGAL!"<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Well, guess what: The number of illegal immigrants living in America has actually FALLEN, not risen, over the last decade.</div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUMUfY2UQAEfGG0.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 80%;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Furthermore, Americans favor a path to citizenship over deportation.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Enforcing the law is good, but most Americans agree it's not worth turning our society into a police state just to kick out people who live here.</div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUMVEd5VMAET3TS.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 80%;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">The third argument against immigration is fiscal.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />"Immigrants are a drain on government resources!"<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />As it turns out, all but the least educated immigrants are a net POSITIVE for government budgets.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-22/immigrants-are-a-fiscal-boon-not-a-burden" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(bloomberg.com/view/articles/…)</a></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUMVlbGV4AEBXTk.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 80%;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">The fourth argument against immigration is cultural.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />"Immigrants don't assimilate!"<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Well, yes they do.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-11-21/immigrants-do-a-great-job-at-becoming-americans" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(bloomberg.com/view/articles/…)</a>&nbsp;Today's immigrants learn English just as fast (or faster than) previous waves.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />What's more, today's immigrants intermarry at very high rates - a sure sign that they're integrating into America.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/01/28/hispanic-immigrants-are-assimilating-just-as-quickly-as-earlier-groups/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…)</a></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUMWZVfUMAAZRbM.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 80%;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">What's more, immigrants' political attitudes are similar to Americans' attitudes.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Immigrants are not importing foreign values that are going to displace traditional American values.&nbsp;<a href="https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/edb_27.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(object.cato.org/sites/cato.org…)</a>&nbsp;The fifth argument against immigration is racist.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />"Immigrants come from shithole countries, so they'll make America a shithole too!"<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Guess what: Immigrants from poor countries in Africa and elsewhere do really well in America.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-10-13/it-isn-t-just-asian-immigrants-who-excel-in-the-u-s-" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 109, 5) !important;">(bloomberg.com/view/articles/…)</a>&nbsp;There are also some arguments I haven't written about. For example, the idea that immigrants bring crime into the U.S. (False! It's the opposite: )</div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.nytimes.com/svc/oembed/html/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F01%2F26%2Fus%2Ftrump-illegal-immigrants-crime.html" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; max-width: 500px; min-height: 550px; min-width: 300px; width: 500px;"></iframe></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">To sum up: There are many good reasons to keep letting immigrants into the U.S., and to let in even more than we currently do.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />There are few good reasons to tighten restrictions.<br /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Happy debating!</div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333234; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUMYfouUQAAAEl-.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 80%;" /></div>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-76372100309881362952017-03-28T09:45:00.003-07:002017-03-28T09:45:39.981-07:00Jen Granholm on why Trump should be at least impeached if not sent to jail.<br /><a class="twitter-timeline" href="https://twitter.com/ibilln/timelines/846743741675192320">Granholm 3.28.17 - Curated tweets by ibilln</a>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-29219294652880260592017-03-24T09:04:00.003-07:002017-03-24T09:04:52.259-07:00AHCA passage: Chaos and death, but not the end of the world<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It looks like the AHCA will pass. &nbsp;Fooey.</span></div><b id="docs-internal-guid-d8e71569-010d-5075-a7c0-395de86910a4" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, it won't be the utter tragedy that we libs think it will be, but it will be bad.</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some quick things:</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We will go back to healthcare circa 2008: &nbsp;</span></div></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Employer-paid for workers, wherein, mostly, one gets coverage for pre-existing conditions, some amount of pre/postnatal care, etc</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lousy, expensive insurance for individuals not covered by employer (self-employed, between jobs, laid-off, etc)</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the poor, emergency rooms</span></div></li></ul><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Medicaid will be canceled for all practical purposes..Some/many hospitals will probably go out of business, as they are not set up to handle the poor in volume</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some if not many Insurance companies will go out of business due to inability to estimate future customer flow.</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It will be chaos for a year+ until it settles down</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many will simply die due to unavailability of health care.</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some states which can afford it, like California, will set up exchanges and mimic and maybe improve Obamacare. &nbsp;This will be good for California, but nationally will add to the chaos.</span></div></li></ul><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The optimist in me says that if California splits with the national “standard”, it will point the way to a bright new future, with things done right. &nbsp;But the reality is that, as usual, the middle of the country will be left behind, adding to the disunity already visible.</span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PS - if you are an economist, try modeling the California split.</span></div><br /><br />Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-61605943421240972032017-03-23T10:23:00.002-07:002017-03-23T10:23:26.545-07:00Revolution...??At some level, I'd like the current "AHCA" effort to succeed. &nbsp;Yes, massive pain all across the land. &nbsp;However, that would be the end of the GOP!<br /><br />Right?<br /><br />Maybe not. &nbsp;The Koch's have mastered the art of gerrymandering. &nbsp;It seems, enough money, anything can be gerrymandered.<br /><br />The plan seems to be, after the "AHCA", &nbsp;herd all the (surviving) "citizens" into a gerrymandered crypt, seal it off, and get on with the burning, pillaging, and grabbing them by the pussy that we come here to do.<br /><br />Unless one or more of our fearful leaders steps up. &nbsp;...Really?<br /><br />Unless there is a revolution. <br /><br />Never thought I'd say that - ever.Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-39490078821213396742017-03-21T14:43:00.003-07:002017-03-21T14:48:27.558-07:00Comey NotesWe think that someone - finally - has arrived to save us! &nbsp;James Comey!<br /><br />Not so fast. &nbsp;Why do we think he's the good guy now?<br /><br />When he threw the election by "reopening" the Clinton email investigation, he either did it on purpose or by mistake. <br /><br />If by mistake, he's <i>both</i> incompetent and stupid. &nbsp;So no saving by him.<br /><br />If on purpose, he certainly has not - now - for some reason - gotten religion, seen the errors of his ways, and is energised and dedicated to helping us bring down the Orange One. &nbsp;Ie, if he's not stupid, and if he's still there, he's just as evil as any of 'em.<br /><br />IMO, he's playing us, seeming to contradict the Orange One, lulling us to sleep. &nbsp;Meanwhile he sees his mission as placating the masses, letting the furor die down, giving the Orange One time to wreak greater havoc and depredation upon them masses, who deserve what they get, being neither FBI agents or rich muthas.<br /><br />Yep, we are being played. &nbsp;Paraphrasing Krugman, however bad you think it will get, it will get much worse.Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-32552955546036315532016-02-23T10:43:00.002-08:002016-02-23T10:43:45.826-08:00Reasonable post by El-Erain. Note: "Tactical Component" ~= Momentum...<div data-view-uid="1|0_6_2" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: SupriaSans, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"><article class="article_content" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333340; float: left; font-family: Tiempos, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px 40px 0px 110px; padding: 1px 0px 20px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px; width: 557px;"><div class="metadata" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 30px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"><h1 class="headline" itemprop="name headline" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #4e4e5c; direction: ltr; font-family: SupriaSans, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 42px; line-height: 48px; margin: 0px; max-width: 700px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Market Calm May Be Short-Lived</h1><div class="article_content__headshots" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"></div><time class="timestamp" datetime="2016-02-22T07:00:10.419Z" itemprop="datePublished" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaab6; display: inline-block; font-family: SupriaSans, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 0.1em; line-height: 25px; position: relative; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px; text-transform: uppercase;">FEB 22, 2016 2:00 AM EST</time><div class="byline" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 50px 0px 0px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">By&nbsp;<span class="contributor_name" itemprop="author" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"><a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/contributors/mohamed-a-el-erian" rel="author" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 128) !important; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Mohamed A. El-Erian</a></span></div><div data-view-uid="1|0_6_2_2" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"></div></div><div class="article_body" itemprop="articleBody" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: rsf_footnote 0; direction: ltr; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Last week, global equity investors got a much-needed reprieve from volatile, loss-inflicting markets. But rather than signaling the start of a calmer market phase, this may well prove a prelude to renewed<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-19/wall-street-banks-gorge-on-treasuries-and-that-s-a-warning-sign" id="_mce_temp_anchor" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 128) !important; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">volatility</a>&nbsp;in the weeks ahead.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">After ending the last trading session of the previous week with a gain, global stocks got off to a good start last Monday. U.S. markets went on to post their best&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-19/u-s-futures-little-changed-as-s-p-500-heads-for-weekly-advance" id="_mce_temp_anchor" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 128) !important; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">weekly performance</a>&nbsp;since November, as two days of solid market rallies were followed by relatively calm consolidation.&nbsp;Markets in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-22/japanese-stocks-drop-after-last-week-s-gains-amid-stronger-yen" id="_mce_temp_anchor" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 128) !important; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Japan</a>&nbsp;and some parts of Europe did even better, registering gains of 5 percent to 7 percent.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">There were four reasons for this respite from an otherwise horrid start to the year:</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Attempts by central bankers, especially outside the U.S., to reassure markets; stepped-up negotiations among oil producers aimed at stabilizing prices; the rush by European banks to avoid joining the set of unhinged market segments by coming up with measures including repurchases of their securities; and some, albeit limited, positive U.S. economic news.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Yet none of these factors serve to significantly counter, let alone, overcome three much bigger and more consequential realities.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">First,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-18/wall-street-gloom-seen-as-big-disconnect-with-profit-outlook" id="_mce_temp_anchor" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 128) !important; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">corporate earnings</a>&nbsp;will be further challenged by continued signs of spreading global economic weakness and a persistent inability by governments to deliver the required policy responses. Last week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development joined other international economic watchdogs in offering lower growth forecasts. It also noted additional risks.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Second, the continued ability of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-18/negative-rate-policies-are-becoming-more-common-is-the-u-s-next" id="_mce_temp_anchor" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 128) !important; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">central banks</a>&nbsp;to repress financial volatility is increasingly in doubt. The institutions that are willing to pursue such policies, particularly in China and Japan, are facing questions about their effectiveness. And more able central banks, such as the Federal Reserve, may not be as willing to do so, particularly given economic indicators suggesting that financial volatility has not contaminated economic activity and that wage and price inflation are starting to pick up.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Third, although a few days of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-02-19/putting-all-of-your-eggs-in-the-stock-basket-is-crazy" id="_mce_temp_anchor" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 128) !important; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">market gains</a>&nbsp;can force traders to cover their shorts, in this case, it does not seem to have triggered the return of the stabilizing role of long-term capital. Instead, it would appear from data about the flow of funds that markets still need to reprice considerably lower to find the anchoring inflow of significant patient capital.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Until these three factors change, occasional periods of market calm -- and, thankfully, there will be some -- are likely to prove frustratingly short. But this does not mean that investors should just reconcile themselves to passively riding&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-02-19/bear-markets-don-t-predict-recessions-but-liquidity-might" id="_mce_temp_anchor" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 128) !important; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">roller-coaster markets</a>&nbsp;that will likely create anxiety and may even force some, during large air pockets, to liquidate at the wrong time.&nbsp; Instead, investors would be well advised to consider adding a tactical component to their longer-term strategic and structural positioning.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Given the likelihood of a return of significant market volatility, periods of downward pressure will continue to be associated with price overshoots and undue contagion. For investors willing to stomach lots of mark-to-market risk, these gyrations will offer an opportunity to gain exposures at attractive prices to names possessing solid economic and financial fundamentals. And during the periods of upward retracement, these same investors will have the opportunity to accumulate cash, while continuing to upgrade the quality of their holdings.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Anchored by the notion of “buy and hold,” many long-term investors will naturally resist adding a tactical component to their investment approach. But failing to do so could also cause them to risk losing sight of a larger reality that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-02-12/investors-try-to-ride-out-an-improbable-storm" id="_mce_temp_anchor" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 128, 128) !important; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">volatile markets</a>&nbsp;are now signaling increasingly consistently.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">The world is experiencing policy and economic realignments that undermine two notions that have served “buy and hold” investors well in the last few years: that global growth, while low, remains relatively stable; and that systemically important central banks continue to be both willing and able to repress financial volatility and boost financial asset prices.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">This paradigm is coming to an end. Moreover, what may follow is far from predestined, depending in large part on whether politicians are able to bring about the much needed hand-off from excessive reliance on central banks to a broader policy response. In the meantime, we all better get ready for the return of greater financial market volatility.</div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;"><a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-02-22/market-calm-may-be-short-lived?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&amp;utm_content=56cc971a04d30102761de049&amp;utm_medium=trueAnthem&amp;utm_source=twitter">Source</a></div></div></article></div>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-64058494118893100322016-02-05T09:41:00.002-08:002016-02-05T09:41:52.427-08:00Grantham: Economy Will Beat Consensus View<div>Fund manager Jeremy Grantham thinks cheap oil will give bigger boost to global output than many think.</div><div><br />By <br /><a href="http://online.barrons.com/public/search/results.html?KEYWORDS=%22JEREMY%20GRANTHAM%22&amp;ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineOR">JEREMY GRANTHAM</a><br />February 4, 2016<br /><br />Here is summary of this piece.<br /><br />• The positive effects of low resource prices are underestimated. The U.S. and global economies are likely to do significantly better this year than recent opinions predict. The U.S. has plenty of spare capacity to grow above its longer-term limits. The biggest risk would be China’s GDP becoming much more disappointing.<br /><br />• The U.S. and global markets do not look like they are in bubble territory. They can always suffer a regular bear market (and are almost in one now). But I still believe we will have to wait longer for the BIG ONE and that global equity markets will regroup once more.<br /><br />• Currently ultra-low resource prices are not sustainable, particularly those of grains and oil. Oil producers need $65/barrel and rising to finance new oil exploration. Resource prices will inevitably rise and as they do they will reduce once again the growth rates of the global economy.<br /><br />A quick look at 2015 and 2016<br /><br />2015<br /><br />Looking back to last year we could simplify it by saying that the big positive was, as usual, support from the Federal Reserve and its allies, as they continued to maintain lower than market rates. You know my view: These lower rates have surprisingly little effect on the economy but a big effect on pushing up asset prices. Historically – well for 25 years anyway – the lack of reasonable values has often not impeded the Fed’s ability to push equity prices higher. Indeed, by any traditional measure we have spent over 80% of the last 25 years overpriced. The big negative in 2015, of course, was China slowing down, especially in areas requiring raw materials. This helped to broadly lower global GDP growth. Loosely speaking, the closer investments were to China – say, miners, countries supplying raw materials, and emerging markets with heavy Chinese trade – then the relatively worse they did. And the closer to the Fed, as the U.S. is, the less badly they did.<br /><img src="http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/ON-BO514_Jeremy_DV_20151209153058.jpg" /><br /><br /><br />More From Jeremy Grantham<br /><br /><a href="http://www.barrons.com/articles/jeremy-grantham-watch-1449701407">Jeremy Grantham: Watch Out for Wall St. Optimists</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.barrons.com/articles/jeremy-grantham-the-10-topics-that-really-matter-1438122157">Jeremy Grantham: The 10 Topics That Really Matter</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.barrons.com/articles/jeremy-grantham-u-s-stocks-still-have-legs-1430425835">Jeremy Grantham: U.S. Stocks Still Have Legs</a><br /><br />The global bear market bias of 2015 was also helped along everywhere by the plunging oil price, which caused layoffs, reductions in capital spending, and, probably more importantly for equities, increased global uncertainties both at the company financial level and the country political level.<br /><br />Right behind that as a negative, particularly in the U.S., was a decline in profit margins. Finally! But the drop was from levels so far above the old trend that even after recent declines they remain handsome.<br /><br />Looking at the U.S. equity market I think we might agree on how powerful the Fed is in the market equation. It approximately offset these three very large negatives: China, oil, and declining margins, which together caused disappointing global growth. But in addition, it had to neutralize the justifiable nervousness caused by increased terrorism, immigrant problems, Russia’s sharp elbows, and an apparently disheveled Europe. Not bad!<br /><br />2016<br /><br />Looking to 2016, we can agree that uncertainties are above average. But I think the global economy and the U.S. in particular will do better than the bears believe it will because they appear to underestimate the slow-burning but huge positive of much-reduced resource prices in the U.S. and the availability of capacity both in labor and machinery. So even though I believe our trend line growth capability is only 1.5%, our spare capacity and lower input prices make 2.5% quite attainable for this year. And growth at this level would make a major market break unlikely. As discussed elsewhere, this situation feels at worst like an ordinary bear market lasting a few months and not like a major collapse. That, I think, will come later after the final ingredients of a major bubble fall into place.<br /><br />As always, though, prudent investors should ignore historical niceties like these and invest according to GMO’s rather depressing 7-year forecast. The U.S. equity market, although not in bubble territory, is very overpriced (+50% to 60%) and the outlook for fixed income is dismal. At current asset prices no pension fund requirements can be met. Thus, we should welcome a major market break that will leave us with more reasonable investment growth potential for the longer term, but I suspect that we will have to wait patiently for such a major decline. The ability of the market to hurt eager bears some more is probably not exhausted. I still believe that, with the help of the Fed and its allies, the U.S. market will rally once again to become a fully-fledged bubble before it breaks. That is, after all, the logical outcome of a Fed policy that stimulates and overestimates some more until, finally, some strut in the complicated economic structure snaps. Good luck in 2016.<br /><br />U.S. equity bubble update<br /><br />On the evaluation front, the market is not quite expensive enough to deserve the bubble title. We at GMO have defined a bubble as a 2-standard-deviation event (2-sigma). We believe that all great investment bubbles reached that level and market events that fell short of 2-sigma did not feel like the real thing. (In our view, 2008 was preceded by an unprecedented U.S. housing bubble – a 3-sigma event.)<br /><br />Today a 2-sigma U.S. equity market would be at or around 2300 on the S&amp;P, requiring a rally of over 20%; even from the previous record daily high it would have required an 8% rally. The impressive bubble peaks of 1929 and 2008 also featured broad international overpricing of equities, measured at over 1-sigma, and this, too, was completely lacking this time. Emerging market equities were just ordinarily overpriced last year and full of investor concerns totally unlike normal bubble conditions. Europe and other developed markets were more overpriced but nowhere near bubble levels, and were also characterized by extreme nervousness.<br /><br />On the more touchy-feely level of psychological and technical measures, the U.S. market came closer to bubble status but, still, I think, no cigar. I had pointed out two years ago that nearly all major bubbles are immediately preceded by a period when the safer blue chips outperform the riskier, higher-beta stocks on the upside. At other times this would be considered very unusual. Two years ago there was not a hint of that, but last year was a classically narrow market – i.e., led by a handful of the very largest and, on average, higher-quality companies. So the bears can claim this one, although I think with an asterisk because the market was not really going up last year and outperformance of bigger stocks in a flat market is not particularly remarkable. Also mitigating the bear argument is that this market effect was not caused by defensive buying of blue chips but, I would say, offensive buying into the spectacularly superior earnings of this small group. So, not convincing. I had also written that I did not see much chance that this market would end before records would be set for corporate deals done, encouraged by the extremely low rates and reluctance to invest in new plants and equipment. This test, I must admit, was passed with flying colors, for all deal records were broken in the second half of last year. Much more convincing.<br /><br />A third less elegant but historically effective test further improves the odds of a bear market this year: the infamous January rule. Applied GMO-style, it goes that the first five trading days predict the balance of the year, especially if the average number is negative. (As does the whole month with about the same – and quite significant – statistical weight.) When the two signals oppose each other, on the other hand, we have had very normal years. Needless to say, the first five days and January were both record-ugly this year. Since 1925, a down five-day and down January have more than doubled the probability of a down market for the remaining 11 months.<br /><br />So I must admit to feeling nervous for this year’s equity outlook in the U.S. But I am not entirely convinced. Sure, we can have a regular bear market. That is always the case. But the BIG ONE? I doubt it. And here is my admittedly reduced case.<br /><br />The most important missing ingredient is a fully-fledged blow-off. This should come complete with crazy speculative anecdotes for your grandchildren, massive enthusiasm from individual investors, an overwrought, overcapacity economy, and, at minimum, a 2-sigma S&amp;P 500 at 2300. Lacking all of this, I still believe it is “likely” that we will reach Election Day more or less intact. I will, though, admit to my definition of “likely” being beaten down by the negative factors listed earlier to something just over 50%. The wild card, as usual these days, is China. The market is discounting lower growth. (I believe 4% a year for the next 10 years would be a reasonable target.) But a deep entry into negative GDP numbers might ruin my relatively positive case for global growth.<br /><br />To rub in how ordinary our present market negatives are compared to the impending doom bubble of 2007 when a crash seemed inevitable – like “watching a slow motion train wreck”2 – let’s compare today with 2007.<br /><br />Back then the banks looked very vulnerable. Indeed, I predicted in July 2007, “at least one major bank… will fail.” This time oil debt may hurt, but our moderately strengthened banks will surely withstand this much smaller hit easily. In 2007, resource prices, historically a terrible drag on economies, were at cosmic highs – oil alone was over $150/barrel. Today they are at cosmic and unsustainable lows. So a major, major negative is this time a major positive. The U.S. housing market back then was at a 3-sigma high (never before approached) and represented a potential and realized $6 trillion writedown of perceived wealth. This time the U.S. housing market is merely moderately overpriced. Last time the economy was cranking out 1.25 million extra houses and the whole economy was running flat out. This time we are building at least 300,000 houses below normal levels and there is spare capacity in the broader economy. See our Quarterly Letters during 2007. Clearly, this current situation has no material similarity to that which impressed us as so irresistibly negative in 2007. In short, the economic outlook for the immediate future is less bad than recent commentaries would have you believe. Especially in the U.S.<br /><br />Yet more on oil<br /><br />So, this is the situation: The world’s most important resource, oil, which we need for practically everything but especially to drive our cars, is getting really cheap. And this is helping to drag other commodities down with it. Everything is getting cheap. It is like a tax cut for individuals that is being financed by the profits of oil companies and Saudi Arabia. Now, what’s not to like about that? Yet this is a big part of what is spreading terror in the markets. Why?<br /><br />I have described before the situation that although in the long run there is an apparent balance between winners and losers, the problem is that oil companies and their suppliers take their hits up front as they reduce their exploration and development efforts projecting deep into the future. Oil-dominated countries do the same, in addition to cutting their national budgets and their foreign buying. Under this shock, economic expectations can take a hit.<br /><br />The shock, I suppose, is how completely Saudi Arabia and OPEC were willing to give up any and all attempts to control price. Through 90% of oil history, if oil producers wanted to outproduce demand they could have. And it would always have buried oil prices. But mostly they restrained their competitive market share instincts in the interest of a more stable price. And very sensibly so. To summarize my previous case, I consider that Saudi Arabia, if it has been driven by commercial as opposed to political reasons, has made perhaps the biggest economic error in the history of oil. If their main motive is political, on the other hand, it better be an extremely important one for they themselves are quite likely to pay a very high political as well as financial price. An oil price change of this magnitude and speed is very destabilizing to economies, politics, and social cohesion. It makes for dangerous times and the market does not like it. The psychological response is understandable.<br /><br />But excluding some major political upheaval, what are the likely economic consequences from here? The largest hits from the major oil company responses are behind us, although at $30/barrel (and maybe less) there will be some further retrenchment. And now comes the matching response from us, the consumers. Everything we buy has cheaper input costs. The major item of gasoline purchases is a steady jolt of encouragement. Heating bills are also much lower. Could there be a better financial input than this to the group that has been hurting for 30 years – the median wage earner? Not easily. Some of us argued that the impact of high resource prices in 2008 had an underappreciated major negative impact on the economy, and there certainly is a strong statistical relationship between previous upward jots in oil prices and ensuing recessions. (Actually, the number is 100%. Every major previous increase in the price of oil was followed by an economic setback. And why would this not be the case?) We argued that mainstream economists were so obsessed with bank and credit problems that they had no time to worry about resource prices. Typically they almost never do. Market opinion now, though, impressed with the early negatives that it should have expected and because the offsetting stimulus effect is delayed and weakened initially by some understandable increases in savings, is doing the opposite. It is underrating what will very likely become an important economic tailwind for the next several quarters. Reflecting current opinion (January 25), Luke Kawa, a writer for Bloomberg reviewing the oil situation claims, “One of the biggest surprises in economics has been how the world responded to a period of lower energy prices.” Well, the economic world is easily surprised.<br /><br />A lot of people who worry about resources had felt that several years of much higher resource prices (from 2006 to 2014) were acting to weaken our global economy, slowly but surely, and I was one of them. I feel that this period now is a reprieve, if only temporary, from that pressure. It gives an opportunity for the global economy to regroup and start to grow a bit faster again, at least for a while.<br /><br />The U.S. economy in particular, with its available labor, tucked away in the current ultra-low labor participation rate, and a moderately low industrial capacity ratio (76.5% – 3.5 points below its 1972- 2014 average), appears to be well-positioned to benefit. And, we are still an important wheel in the global machinery.<br /><br />Grantham is founder of GMO, a Boston-based asset management firm.<br /><br />Copyright 2014 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved</div>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-14272002417062029792016-02-05T09:30:00.003-08:002016-02-05T09:30:36.274-08:00Jeff Saut 2.5.16 <br />"As many times as we've repeated this over the years, we feel compelled to yet again remind everyone that the stock market and the economy are not the same. Financial media personalities and pundits compete to outdo one another with doomsday prognostications for higher ratings by feeding the anxiety of already frightened investors to become captive frightened listeners. Don't give in to it." <br /><br />. . . Steven Gluckstein, Seaview Global Advisors <br /><br />I received Steven Gluckstein's sage words yesterday from one of our financial advisors with the tag line, "Hey Jeff, Steve is a guy I have a LOT of respect for. He seems to be echoing many of the things you have mentioned." Steve's insightful missive goes: <br /><br />"The stock market's abysmal start in the new year is not a harbinger of imminent economic disaster. As we stated last month, markets will be plagued by increased volatility with fragile sentiment making the market vulnerable to multiple corrections. Certainly near-term caution is warranted after the sharp drop in oil, stocks and the ongoing investor angst over the Fed's initial rate hike. Strategist calls to 'sell any rally' or even 'sell everything' have become the new mantra. These are classic signs of a bottoming along with hordes of analysts capitulating on their covered stocks as they abandon long-held views. The typical decline of between 5% and 10% for the major stock averages this year actually understates the pain for most investors since the average listed stock is already in its own bear market with a decline of 20% or more from its 52-week high. Nonetheless, we still expect that the major averages will finish the year higher - as confidence in better forward earnings guidance resurfaces later in the year along with improved political clarity." <br /><br />Indeed, that sounds a lot like me! In fact, it is VERY reminiscent of another gentleman I quoted a few weeks ago named Howard Marks, of Oaktree Capital fame, who titled his report "What Does the Market Know?" One quip from said article reads: <br /><br />"Especially during downdrafts, many investors impute intelligence to the market and look to it to tell them what's going on and what to do about it. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. As Ben Graham pointed out, the day-to-day market isn't a fundamental analyst; it's a barometer of investor sentiment. . . . You just can't take it too seriously. Market participants have limited insight into what's really happening in terms of fundamentals, and any intelligence that could be behind their buys and sells is obscured by their emotional swings. It would be wrong to interpret the recent worldwide drop as meaning the market 'knows' tough times lay ahead. . . . It's important to understand for this purpose that there really isn't such a thing as 'the market.' There's just a bunch of people who participate in a market. The market isn't more than the sum of the participants, and it doesn't 'know' any more than their collective knowledge." <br /><br />Accordingly, I am sticking with my "call" that the selling stampede ended last Thursday ﴾1-28-16﴿ at session 21 in the envisioned 17-25 day "selling stampede" timeframe until proven wrong. Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-42045201459217094022015-12-30T19:33:00.000-08:002015-12-30T19:33:07.293-08:00Note to self. Sorry...<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Rose Bowl Parking.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">5 N to 2 N to 134 E. &nbsp;~1.5 mi to Figueroa. &nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Exit - looping around to Fig.; left on Fig.;&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">left on Colorado Blvd. &nbsp;.25 to .5 mi on Col. then left on Patrician Way. &nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Wind around&nbsp;Annandale&nbsp;Golf Course. &nbsp;Keep to right. &nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Rt on Glen Oaks Blvd. &nbsp;@ San Rafel there is a road triangle. &nbsp;Stay on left on Glen Oaks. &nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Wind to bottom of hill. &nbsp;Left on Linda Glen; go up hill. &nbsp;Park. &nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Walk down Linda Glen to Linda Vista. &nbsp;Take Seco St. over to Rose Bowl area. &nbsp;Map says ~1.5 mi.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">To leave walk back up to car (!). &nbsp;Back track on Linda Glen and Glen Oaks to San Rafel. &nbsp;Left on San Rafel down to 134 freeway.</div>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-70491150018536286242015-12-29T09:35:00.002-08:002015-12-29T09:35:25.361-08:00Always ask "Does it add value?"<div class="comment-content" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; clear: right; float: left; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"><span id="comment-6a00e551f08003883401b7c7ff2983970b-content" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">In the spirit of offering guides to navigating life's challenges, here is a version of the heretofore very closely-held "Bill's Corollary*":</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;"><b style="box-sizing: border-box;">Always ask "Does it add value?"</b></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">This can be asked of anything - a company, a business plan, an individual's job, a person's life.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">For example, what value do health insurance companies add? (Anyone?...)</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Or, in your job, if you can't clearly see that you are adding value, you should maybe keep your eye out for another job, since your boss will at some point wonder why (s)he is paying you.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">The creative destruction of capitalism is just nature asking of every endeavor - what value is being added/created here?</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">One could opine that many of Jesus' teachings are meditations on the Corollary. One could, but I won't.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">There. You are welcome.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">*What is Bill's Corollary a corollary of? Everything!</div></span></div>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-23883441574151738982015-12-17T13:13:00.000-08:002015-12-17T13:13:42.225-08:00Some bs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iQO4uVPvx3M/VnMjybnS5OI/AAAAAAAAuZs/MRWfswIBkfA/s1600/Screenshot_20151215-143205.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iQO4uVPvx3M/VnMjybnS5OI/AAAAAAAAuZs/MRWfswIBkfA/s320/Screenshot_20151215-143205.png" width="180" /></a></div><br />Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-74283331935357524412015-09-30T09:21:00.001-07:002015-09-30T11:01:16.193-07:00Stocks: Patient BullishnessThe volatility in markets these days is a big story. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i58aXdpnzzo/Vgvz1B58mhI/AAAAAAAApKo/kdBvwa33zHg/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-09-30%2Bat%2B7.37.17%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i58aXdpnzzo/Vgvz1B58mhI/AAAAAAAApKo/kdBvwa33zHg/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-09-30%2Bat%2B7.37.17%2BAM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />What's all the to-ing and fro-ing about? &nbsp;CNBC needs something to do.<br /><br />Seriously, the case for a sour market outlook comes not from the ranting punditsphere, eg, the likes of <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/27/-of-potential-looming-catastrophe.html">Carl Ichan</a>&nbsp;warning about a looming market catastrophe. &nbsp;Watching CNBC is not good for one's health or wealth.<br /><br />However there <i>is <b>one</b></i>&nbsp;solid brief to be filed in support of a bearish view: &nbsp;We are possibly entering, or in, a period of global deflation. &nbsp;Reality setting in at China HQ is a contributing factor.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iUAa5xlwink/Vgv39sdJg9I/AAAAAAAApK0/vWs8zJhFkug/s1600/6a00e551f08003883401bb087a163b970d.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iUAa5xlwink/Vgv39sdJg9I/AAAAAAAApK0/vWs8zJhFkug/s400/6a00e551f08003883401bb087a163b970d.png" width="385" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This chart is probably the reason the Fed did not tighten, and may not for a while.<br /><br />Wait - we are worried about low inflation? &nbsp;Many of us lived through '80's where inflation was the worst thing in the world. &nbsp;But it's important to remember what inflations is:<br /><blockquote><b>Inflation is not just rising prices. &nbsp;Inflation is a rising wage-price spiral. &nbsp;Prices can't rise very far without a concomitant rise in wages. &nbsp;Period.</b></blockquote>Well, as a business, you can raise prices all you want. &nbsp;Soon, without rising wages, nobody can buy your stuff.<br /><br />Point is, deflation is <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/10/already-in-the-lowflation-trap/">bad and very hard to get out of</a>. &nbsp;It's much harder to escape deflation than to reduce inflation.<br /><br />---<br /><br />So. &nbsp;I mentioned bullishness above. &nbsp;Despite the latter I remain, not screamingly, but patiently bullish on the markets, for the following reasons.<br /><ul><li>The amount of cash on companies' books is vastly larger now than in my lifetime. &nbsp;That tends to put a floor under the amount of damage that can be done by broad economic trends.</li></ul><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sOkxrd06qXA/VgwHmZM3NyI/AAAAAAAApLE/dN05ghwRLng/s1600/SP-500-Cash-level.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sOkxrd06qXA/VgwHmZM3NyI/AAAAAAAApLE/dN05ghwRLng/s400/SP-500-Cash-level.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><ul><li>We don't have rising interest rates. We don't have an <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/invertedyieldcurve.asp">inverted yield curve</a>. &nbsp;We don't have an economy in recession. &nbsp;More <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k7GBny78hA">here</a> on the latter points by David Kotok, a guy I find very clear and enlightening. &nbsp;(Ok, a pundit. &nbsp;Sorry).</li><li>Finally, the US is the safe haven of the world in times of economic stress - for both equities and fixed income.</li></ul>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-24625240238975105912015-09-18T08:15:00.001-07:002015-09-18T08:15:51.285-07:00My comment on Josh Barro's article on Carly Fiorina at the NYT.<div class="avatar" style="background-color: #fbfbea; clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 10px 5px 0px;"><img src="http://pimage.timespeople.nytimes.com/5253/2958/cropped-52532958.jpg?18744747311145144674" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 45px;" /></div><header style="background-color: #fbfbea; color: #333333; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><h2 class="commenter" style="color: black; display: inline-block; font-family: nyt-franklin, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 0.8125rem; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px;">bill n</h2>&nbsp;<span class="commenter-location" style="color: #999999; font-family: nyt-franklin, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75rem; line-height: 0.8125rem;">lafayette, ca</span>&nbsp;<time class="comment-time" datetime="" style="color: #999999; font-family: nyt-franklin, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75rem; line-height: 0.8125rem; margin-left: 7px;">Pending Approval</time></header><div class="comment-text" style="background-color: #fbfbea; color: #333333; font-family: nyt-franklin, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.25rem; max-width: 435px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ok, have scanned most but not all the comments. It's clear none of you, esp Barro, know what you are talking about. HP was dead in the fall of 2001. Dead. It would have ceased to exist if not for the merger. Would that make it better for all the people Carley "fired"? Walter Hewett wanted to turn HP into a printer company. Ok - Save 1000 jobs at best. The merger was driven by Tom Perkins, who basically hired Carley. Here's a link to an article by Perkins on what happened. http://is.gd/jDXSFN Ok, it's Breitbart. But the article is correct. It won't kill you to visit the link - you have my word. HP wasn't growing revenue quickly enough? How about no revenue? Better? I'm not a Republican and I think it's sad that Carly has to bow and scrape, and try to be the new Sara Palin, mouthing attendant blithering idiot statements about war, the economy, "entitlements", etc, but the current popular anti-Carly narrative is nonsense at best.</div><div class="comment-text" style="background-color: #fbfbea; color: #333333; font-family: nyt-franklin, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.25rem; max-width: 435px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="comment-text" style="background-color: #fbfbea; color: #333333; font-family: nyt-franklin, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.25rem; max-width: 435px; white-space: pre-wrap;">---Barro's article <a class="underlink bluelink" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/upshot/fiorina-grew-hewlett-packards-sales-but-not-its-profits.html?ref=business" style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #296bcc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.92px; outline: none;" tabindex="-1" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/upshot/fiorina-grew-hewlett-packards-sales-but-not-its-profits.html?ref=business</a></div>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-91930028921432894462015-07-14T09:01:00.001-07:002015-07-14T11:00:48.521-07:00Jihadists are us<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Krugman asks in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/opinion/paul-krugman-those-lazy-jobless.html?_r=0">a recent NYT op-ed</a>:</span><br /><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 23px;">"Why is there so much animus against the unemployed, such a strong conviction that they’re getting away with something, at a time when they’re actually being treated with unprecedented harshness?"</span></blockquote>K has been discussing this and related issues - why the "right" has such an animus toward, and fear of the great unwashed, for a long time - in op-ed's, interviews, and blog posts. In the article he asks if the reason is stupidity, ie, that republicans don't know that there's not much welfare going on rt now, that republicans basically have no idea in the world how the other half lives, or maybe it's just basic right-wing meanness that somehow spreads like a virus in Republican get-togethers, etc. He settles on confirmation bias - that rt. wingers live in a closed universe, getting their "information" exclusively from Cato, AEI, Limbag, and Fox.<br /><br />Many other "left" wing pundits weigh in on this issue. Perhaps at some point I'll supply a list of example links to informed commentary on the question Krugman asks, from DeLong, Thoma, Chinn, Konczal, Chait, etc.<br /><br />I don't presume to provide information as informed as the latter list does as a matter of course. However, in my naïveté, I (as my twitter page notes) am a recovering republican, so I believe I am 100% qualified to reliably divulge unto you the answer to why the "right" is so relentlessly set in it's, un-civil, counterproductive, and anti-american ways. <br /><br />The answer, my friends, is that Republicans are Jihadists. What is Jihad? My associate, Mr. Wikipedia, says it is many things, including that for Muslims, it is a struggle against those who do not believe in the Islamic God; the struggle is religious duty imbued in them by the Koran. Jihad is often translated as "Holy War". Replace "Muslims" with "Republicans." Replace "Islamic God" with "imaginary free market". Etc. Ok, not philosophically consistent, but still.<br /><br />Certainly I'm not the first to point out the similarity between fanatical Islam and our fanatical climate change-denying, misogynistic, super-religious, racist right. There is more than happenstance in the similarity.<br /><br />All forms of human society have religion as a central part of societal grouping - mostly, and unpleasantly, super-religion. Western liberal democracy, before it became what we experience today, had a thousand years - and more - of rule-by-men-in-pajamas. Unfortunately there are frequent statements these days by US rightists that there is no notion of separation of church and state in our founding documents which of course is just one of the very many reality-challenged memes which circulate in the right's Fantasy Land. &nbsp;It's the fantasy land of Arcs and Parting Seas. &nbsp;It's nothing more, or less, than religion: &nbsp;The refuge of people possessed of no tools to understand the word other than ancient superstition. &nbsp;The Us vs. Them of the jungle.<br /><br />Today we are far from being a Jihadist state. But not that far.Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-36160189464710023752015-07-14T08:29:00.000-07:002015-07-14T08:29:12.836-07:00An Exchange, sortof, about Greece. Economic Nazism. The Totalitarian-Nazi RoundelayFriend:<br /><blockquote><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/09/poorer-than-greece-the-eu-countries-that-reject-a-new-athens-bailout">Poorer than Greece: the EU countries that reject a new Athens bailout | World news | The Guardian</a><br /><br />The Slovenes and Latvians have a point. Having visited Slovenia, Latvia and Greece no comparison between the work ethic of the Slovenes and Latvians compared to the Greeks. Latvia and Slovenia are more like Ohio and Greece like Florida. Could it be the climate-F. Scott Fitzgerald thought so...</blockquote>Me:<br /><blockquote><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Not sure the article makes sense.</div></blockquote><blockquote><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Latvia GDP: $31B<br />Greece GDP: $242B</div></blockquote>Friend:<br /><blockquote>Essential question for other Euro zone members-do we bail out a spendthrift?</blockquote>Me:<br /><blockquote>Spendthrift - <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/29/the-awesome-gratuitousness-of-the-greek-crisis/">not so much</a>.<br /><br />But the essential question really is - why does Germany want to kick Greece out? BC this is what they are doing. They keep moving the goalposts, plus, as it is, Greece can never do what is being asked of them. More austerity will depress the economy; they will need to borrow more, pay more, depress the economy more, etc etc. And what does Germany get when they do get rid of Greece? Probably a failed state on the bottom of Europe, with Jihad of some kind and all the rest. <br /><br />IMO, the Germans are not dumb - they know this. So what do they think will happen? They think maybe Greece will be able to fend for itself, but if not the USA will come over and "contain" whatever mess is left BC it's very much in our national interest not to have Europe totally implode. Germany's national interest, short term, is to not spend money on international stuff, but rather hunker down and sell BMW's. It's actually a plan that should work pretty well in the short-medium term. <br /><br />Should Germany be stepping up to help solve international/European issues? Of course - from our view, but they are saying they are too small to be Europe's police force or bankers, so fuck international stability, fuck "Europe", we're going our own way. Real-politic. As I said, probably a workable plan short/medium term.<br /><br />As I further said - IMO.</blockquote>&nbsp;--- A day later, 7/14/15<br /><blockquote>I was right! :-)<br /><br />At least about <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e38a452e-26f2-11e5-bd83-71cb60e8f08c.html?siteedition=uk#axzz3fsDQ0fIc">Germany trying to kick Greece out of the euro</a>. They failed for now, only because they miscalculated how low people will bow, scrape, and crawl under existential threats. Next time, double the sanctions!<br /><br />However, I feel I could be wrong about the Greece failed state thing. With articles like the above, more people will see and understand the horror of the economic Naziism being wielded by Germany in this situation - maybe coalitions will indeed form to support the likes of Greece. Maybe instead of Germany kicking Greece out, everyone else will kick Germany out. Ok... Getting too carried away by liberal idealism here. But I agree with the article in that Germany is now fully revealed as the bloodthirsty pricks that they are. <br /><br />I have a new theory - Russia and Germany ally against NATO. Totalitarians and Nazis together at last! Bliss!</blockquote>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-58140685970146733542015-06-01T08:34:00.001-07:002015-06-03T07:05:02.094-07:00Google Wins Derp Of The WeekMr/Ms Google: &nbsp;It's nice to be able to finally set a signature in your Inbox app. It would be even nicer to have the app attach the signature to outgoing messages.<br />---<br />Update 6.3: &nbsp;Am not the world's best Google operator I guess. &nbsp;But finally discovered that the Inbox signature feature only works if the email address sent <b>from&nbsp;</b>is an xxx@gmail.com address. <br /><br />Gmail has "aliases" for sending. &nbsp;I use several. &nbsp;One is billn@vituscapital.com. &nbsp;Vituscapital.com is a valid domain. &nbsp;But I use my gmail account to send the mail; it is a convenient feature - no need for eleventy-seven email accounts. &nbsp;And, especially useful in a professional context of course.<br /><br />Google's Gmail apps for Android and IOS work "correctly" - they send signatures with any aliased address one might choose to use. &nbsp;Inbox does not.<br /><br />I mean... Seriously.Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-74295129947061434582015-05-29T09:12:00.000-07:002015-05-29T10:13:49.430-07:00Delong: Western Governments are Missing a Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity to Fix Their Finances Brad DeLong:<br /><a href="http://www.bradford-delong.com/2015/05/why-is-the-us-economy-still-depressed-delong-faq.html">Why is the US economy still depressed?</a><br /><blockquote>[G]overnments are not responding to market signals: financial markets are telling them that they have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to advantageously pull spending forward from the future into the present and push taxes back from the present into the future. But, because of the ideology of austerity, they are not taking advantage of this opportunity.</blockquote>Also,<a href="http://www.bradford-delong.com/2015/05/must-read-peter-gosselin-government-austerity-exacts-toll-on-us-jobs-wages-and-growth-washington-center-for-equitable.html"> just now</a><br /><blockquote>We’re running the most contractionary fiscal policy in the postwar era, and probably for longer, at a time when the case for an expansionary one could not be stronger...</blockquote>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-40748833395120659972015-05-28T13:26:00.000-07:002015-05-29T09:38:44.168-07:00Mike Konczal - TPP a bad deal; Elisabeth Warren is right. WTF Obama?Mike Konczal (@rortybomb) has a <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/202409/free-trade-isnt-about-trade-its-about-bureaucrats-and-guns">great post on the TPP</a>, providing some actual details and examples. EG:<br /><blockquote>Let’s dig into an example. In 2011, Australia passed the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011,<a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2011A00148%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank">designed</a> “to discourage the use of tobacco products” by, among other things, requiring cigarette packages to have larger warnings, ugly colors, and no logos or advertisements. This act is clearly a “predatory intervention” against tobacco companies, designed explicitly to reduce their business in Australia by lowering smoking rates. As a result, Philip Morris Asia, a part of the American company Philip Morris International, is using an investor-state dispute settlement to stop enforcement and demand compensation, claiming this is a discriminatory “expropriation.” Instead of just the bureaucrats at the Australian government creating and administering rules for the selling of cigarettes, there’s an additional layer of international bureaucrats—positions created by trade agreements—who can overrule them.</blockquote>There are more examples. &nbsp;It ends with:<br /><blockquote>The goal for believers in democracy is to ground the bureaucracies governing international trade in democratic principles and accountability as much as possible. The secret, privatized bureaucracies hidden within free trade agreements like the TPP deploy the power of the state in corporate, rather than public, interests. They <span style="color: #cc0000;">do not facilitate the distribution of goods, but the abrogation of democracy in choosing what is good for all.</span></blockquote>This is the first place I've seen any reasonable discussion with examples of why TPP is not such a good idea. &nbsp;Dean Baker <a href="http://www.cepr.net/">provides a lot of politics</a>, but not as clear an explanation of the basic facts as Konczal.<br /><br />OTOH, as I've <a href="https://twitter.com/ibilln/status/600157211570999296">tweeted</a>, no one is saying why this is a good idea except a few <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/the-mis-selling-of-tpp/">air-head editorials in the WSJ.</a><br /><br />C'mon, Obama - Show us something!Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-37557744700759480692015-05-26T18:47:00.002-07:002015-05-26T18:47:14.106-07:00<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">Ok kids-Dr. Krugman teaches you about rates, fed borrowing, and debt hysteria. Read it 5 or 6 times, then talk to me. <a href="http://t.co/rYqy9mlbCF">http://t.co/rYqy9mlbCF</a></div>— Vitus Capital (@ibilln) <a href="https://twitter.com/ibilln/status/603376601661767680">May 27, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-87085192496344415692015-05-26T18:41:00.000-07:002015-05-26T18:41:02.158-07:00<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">The crisis, the fed, rates,... all of Economics in one short blog post by <a href="https://twitter.com/NYTimeskrugman">@NYTimeskrugman</a> <a href="http://t.co/M4ko6NgY8D">http://t.co/M4ko6NgY8D</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/Inoreader">@Inoreader</a></div>— Vitus Capital (@ibilln) <a href="https://twitter.com/ibilln/status/590518173868298240">April 21, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-48203525515417666722015-01-25T08:41:00.002-08:002015-01-25T09:01:21.126-08:00@mileskimball: Which party do you think has better proposals?I had a Twitter exchange with Miles Kimball, Professor of Economics, University of Michigan:<br /><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dHHaWOmDo4c/VMHBOTTkDuI/AAAAAAAAX2M/4DGZRCe7z88/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-01-22%2Bat%2B7.33.13%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dHHaWOmDo4c/VMHBOTTkDuI/AAAAAAAAX2M/4DGZRCe7z88/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-01-22%2Bat%2B7.33.13%2BPM.png" height="104" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zu46akMJHSs/VMHBUBHAKHI/AAAAAAAAX2U/C9EQYOoIOVA/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-01-22%2Bat%2B7.30.53%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zu46akMJHSs/VMHBUBHAKHI/AAAAAAAAX2U/C9EQYOoIOVA/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-01-22%2Bat%2B7.30.53%2BPM.png" height="425" width="640" /></a></div></blockquote><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Of course I said "D's".<br /><br />But then... &nbsp;Dr. Kimball is not dumb - he is no doubt asking in good faith, or something there akin unto. &nbsp;I decided to write a few things down and send this blog post to him. &nbsp;Maybe I'll learn something! &nbsp;Maybe he'll ignore me.<br />---<br />What policies of the D's are better than those of the R's? &nbsp;For example:<br /><ul><li>R's have no national healthcare policy other than to do away with the D's one, the ACA. &nbsp;I think maintaining and strengthening the ACA is better policy than killing ACA.</li><li>R's policy on money center banking is to repeal Dodd-Frank. &nbsp;D's policy is to continue to develop and enforce Dodd-Frank, keeping in mind how out-of-control the banking sector got in 2006-2010. &nbsp;I think that the US banking sector should be viewed as always by it's nature on the brink causing international financial turmoil*.</li><li>R's policy on taxation at a national level is to implement the most regressive tax possible, from Steve Forbes' Flat Tax to the Ryan-Romney plan of a 20% tax cut across the board. &nbsp;These plans will be paid for by unspecified mechanisms. The D's tax plan is, briefly, to increase the capital gains tax from 20 to 28 percent, and use the money to help pay for a range of benefits for low and middle income people, such as moderate tax credits for education and child-care. &nbsp;I am against policies which specifically are non-specific about how they pay for themselves; I am for policies which further the well-being of Americans at reasonable costs.</li><li>Et Cetera dept.: &nbsp;Climate, education, science, infrastructure, ...</li></ul><div>A final example I'd give for now is higher education. &nbsp;America's Research University is the envy of the world, but has been under attack from Republicans for decades. &nbsp;I, myself, started my journey from republican to democrat because of Reagan's attempt, when he was governor, &nbsp;to cut the budget of UC Berkeley by 10% unilaterally. &nbsp;A good discussion of the Research University issue is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-American-University-Indispensable-ebook/dp/B00329VWW6">here</a>. &nbsp;Dr. Kimball should know about this situation, being a tenured professor at a prestigious university. &nbsp;If he does not, or if he finds some sophistic way of explaining away what is clear on it's face, then he should be ashamed of himself at least.</div><div><br /></div><div>In general, there is no act or policy of Republicans which has been stated or proposed since Nixon expanded Social Security and Medicare in 1969, which is not directly, purposefully, and defiantly positioned in a veritable elysian field of a US&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons">Tragedy of the Commons</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;Four of the original states in the United States call themselves Commonwealths. &nbsp;So far we have come.</div><div><br /></div><div>* I don't have time here to give a history of US banking. &nbsp;This blog has many examples of the failure in the 2000's of US Banking to be congruent with any concept of social relevance.</div>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-64025440820815549742015-01-22T19:19:00.002-08:002015-01-22T19:19:51.500-08:00Posting again...Sort of crapped out in May last year. &nbsp;Starting up again...Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5925072257142622669.post-30654513571152578502014-05-12T09:18:00.001-07:002014-05-12T09:18:56.683-07:00DeLong Posts Definitive Geithner Day Disquisition<h3 class="entry-header" style="background-color: #fbfbff; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin: 1px 0px 10px; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2014/05/and-dan-davies-delivers-tim-geithners-soliloquy-as-the-earl-of-kent-in-king-barack-monday-real-time-smackdown-watch.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BradDelongsSemi-dailyJournal+%28Brad+DeLong%27s+Semi-Daily+Journal%29">AND DAN DAVIES DELIVERS TIM GEITHNER'S SOLILOQUY AS THE EARL OF KENT IN "KING BARACK": MONDAY REAL-TIME SMACKDOWN WATCH</a></h3><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: #fbfbff; clear: both; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; position: static;"><div class="entry-body" style="clear: both;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;"><a href="http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2014/05/twenty-questions-tim-geithners-stress-test-should-answer-about-his-tenure-at-the-treasury.html?cid=6a00e551f08003883401a3fd06c9b9970b#comment-6a00e551f08003883401a3fd06c9b9970b" style="color: #660099;">My Questions, and Dan Davies's Answers</a>:</div><ol style="list-style-position: outside; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;"><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Why was the "Rubin Question" not asked? Why didn't every meeting end with: "What do we need to do today in order to create room to maneuver in case our assessment of the economy is wrong?"? Why was there no contingency plan for what to do if the administration's view of the economy turned out to be wrong, and if the recession was either not relatively shallow nor followed by a strong, rapid recovery?&nbsp;<strong>Good question, totally agree.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Why did the Treasury's loans to banks via the TARP come with neither bankruptcy-control rights (i.e., the ability to throw the organization into the courts if the government was displeased) nor shareholder-control rights (i.e., the ability to replace the boards of directors and the top management if the government was displeased)? He who pays the piper should call the tune, right?&nbsp;<strong>It was early in the game and everyone (except you and Paul Krugman) was scared of THE DREADED STATE OWNERSHIP. But Geithner ought to be made to say this out loud.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Why was the Treasury's first priority in January 2009 not filling the post of Director of the FHFA with somebody smart who understood the depths of the housing finance crisis, the housing finance crisis's role in causing and maintaining the catastrophe, and the potential macroeconomic benefits to be gained from resolving the housing finance crisis?&nbsp;<strong>Nearly all such people wouldn't have gone near the job because of the reputational risk.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Why was the Treasury's second priority in January 2009 not filling the Federal Reserve with Keynesian macroeconomists to balance the austerity-minded regional reserve bank governors, and not thus giving Ben Bernanke and his successor room to maneuver to pursue technocratic dual-mandate policies?&nbsp;<strong>An excess of Very Seriousness. I realise this is basically a rhetorical question though, along the lines of "why did this more or less economically illiterate, non-Keynesian administration, consistently fail to appoint Keynesians who knew what they were doing?"</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Why was the Treasury's third priority in January 2009 not setting-up the game table to make enacting a second round of fiscal stimulus easy, should the Recovery Act turn out (as it did, and is Christina Romer warned at the time) to be less than half as large as it should have been?&nbsp;<strong>See above...</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Why did the spring 2009 PPiP program never go much of anywhere? It seemed to me at the time to be a very wise way--albeit a very risky way--to utilize TARP money.&nbsp;<strong>Too tricksy and think-tank-wonky. Too many bells and whistles. In a crisis, everyone's mental bandwidth is maxed out and so clever-clever solutions never work.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">The Treasury senior-executive team that was assembled seemed to me to be relatively light on all of (a) Wall Street trading and management experience to actually interface with the financial firms to which the TARP money had been committed, (b) Fed-watching experience, (c) macroeconomic policy expertise, and (d) health-care finance expertise. Given that running the TARP, attempting to bring the Federal Reserve's FOMC to a state of understanding of the economy, spurring a strong and rapid recovery, and implementing health-care reform were the administration's top priorities, why were the Treasury's senior executives--excellent people, all--who they were?&nbsp;<strong>Don't know. Suspect that the depth of bench in Treasury is not what it was when you worked there.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Former Obama OMB Director Peter Orszag has said if he had properly understood and internalized the lessons of work like Rinehart-Rogoff on the likelihood of slow recovery after financial crises he would have taken a significantly different position in the Obama administration NEC's policy debates in 2009-10--a position closer to Romer-Summers than to Geithner. How many of what clearly were, in retrospect, unforced macroeconomic policy errors by the Obama administration due to this failure to understand the likelihood of a prolonged, slow "jobless recovery"?&nbsp;<strong>Lots of them, although Orzag's sincerity can't be taken for granted.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">What were the three biggest unforced macroeconomic policy errors of the Obama administration, and why were they made?&nbsp;<strong>Inadequate stimulus, three times. Made first time round because Summers thought he was dealing with 1998-replay, and then second and third times round out of timidity with respect to Congress.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">The Obama administration began with two among the most-senior policymakers--Lawrence Summers and Christina Romer--having deep understanding of the macroeconomics of full employment and inflation and of the two episodes, the Great Depression and Japan's "lost decades", thought to be relevant to the U.S. situation at the end of the 00 decades. When they left in 2010 that expertise was not replaced at the most senior level. Why not? Why no Blinders or Tysons?&nbsp;<strong>Might have given advice that the Obama/Geithner/VSP community didn't want to be given.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">What was the thinking behind the decision that Ben Bernanke should--after 2007-9--be offered a second term as Federal Reserve chair? In retrospect, is that thinking still defensible? If not, why was that thinking convincing at the time?&nbsp;<strong>TBH, Bernanke didn't do a bad job in the face of total lack of help from the fiscal side. I don't think there's a question to be answered here.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">I understand that Neil Barofsky at SIGTARP was regarded by the Treasury as somewhat of a loose cannon, but why was that relationship handled so badly?&nbsp;<strong>Because twenty years' worth of regulatory capture isn't undone in a fortnight, even in conditions like 2008-9.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">I understand why the Treasury might think that Michael Barr was a better choice to run the CFPB than Elizabeth Warren, but why was that relationship handled so badly?&nbsp;<strong>Same answer as 12, with possible additional hints of sexism. OTOH, having run her out of the CFPB, the banking industry then ended up getting Prof. Warren to deal with on the Senate Banking Committee, so heckuva job lobbyists.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Why did the Obama administration in 2011 think that the way to strengthen the economy was to pursue a long run "grand bargain" rather than to pursue short-run expansionary exchange rate, bank regulation, housing finance, and monetary policies?&nbsp;<strong>Because he's the management consultancy boss from hell who will always avoid taking a difficult decision if he isn't personally committed to it.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Why was the Obama administration so certain in 2011 that Boehner wanted to come up with a reasonable long-run entitlement reform and tax increase deal, and that its key negotiating strategy should be to make anticipatory concessions in order to make sure the deal was sweet enough for Boehner to be able to convince his troops to take it?<strong>Literally no idea, but this is also surely a rhetorical question; if Geithner was capable of giving a sensible answer to it, he would surely not have made the mistake in the first place.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Why was there never any explanation of what would happen in the event of a potential breach of the debt ceiling other than "default is unthinkable"? That line put Obama in a very poor bargaining position. The Republican leaders in the House could then pass what they wanted and adjourn--leaving the Senate with no option but to endorse it or to breach the debt ceiling. Obama would then have no option but to sign the House bill or breach the debt ceiling. Can anybody explain to me this throwing-away of the administration's power to threaten not to sign whatever was on the president's desk when the click ticked down to zero?&nbsp;<strong>Good question, agree.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">I understand that there was no macroeconomic policy between July 2009 and April 2010 because health-care reform soaked up all the oxygen. But why was there no macroeconomic policy in the Obama administration between April 2010 and November 2010?&nbsp;<strong>The facts from 2010 ought to make you consider whether the excuse was valid in 2009 either.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">I remember a phone conversation with Tim Geithner about Obama's decisive turn to and endorsement of "austerity"--the passage in Obama's 2010 State of the Union address that went: "Families across the country are tightening their belts and making tough decisions. The federal government should do the same. So tonight, I'm proposing specific steps to pay for the trillion dollars that it took to rescue the economy last year.Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years..." Geithner told me: "I know that [senior administration official X] and [senior administration official Y] really think that I was an [expletive] for not strongly opposing that, but I did not support it." If the Treasury Secretary did not support it, how did it get approved by the NEC? If it did not get approved by the NEC, how did it get into the State of the Union text? Who did support it? Why did they support it?&nbsp;<strong>Very good question, although the possible explanation "Geithner wasn't being wholly candid with you on the phone" comes to mind.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">I remember a phone conversation with Tim Geithner in which Geithner said that entrenched and incumbent FHFA head Ed DeMarco would "push the limits of the reasonable envelope" with actions to accelerate and encourage the refinancing of underwater mortgages. Why did Ed DeMarco not do so? Why did Tim Geithner think he would?<strong>Institutional impossibility of getting anyone to get anything done in the god damn mortgage industry, IMO.</strong></div></li><li style="margin: 5px 10px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Why was it not the first priority in deciding on the Federal Reserve chair to pick somebody who had had a substantially-correct understanding in 2007-9 of what was happening to the economy?&nbsp;<strong>All such people might have given advice that they didn't want to receive.</strong></div></li></ol></div></div>Bill Northlichhttps://plus.google.com/115544896230502239772noreply@blogger.com0